Land & violence in Cambodia

Chris Baker Evens

Violence in Kampot

Centred
on village Kilo Dawp Pi, Kampot Province, the Wing Huor Co., owned by an
Khmer-Australian, is filling in 1000 hectares of shallow coastal waters where
local villages daily catch fish, crabs and squid. The Keo Chea company is next
door filling in 200 hectares. Villagers are concerned that they won't be able
to access their fishing grounds nor make ends meet, and claim that daily
catches are down significantly since the fillings began.

Natural
resources are the foundation of the livelihoods of the vast majority of people
in Cambodia.
And Kampot has many of these, including fish, crab, shrimp, squid, sea grasses,
salt, pepper, coconut, durian, and rice. As Cambodia
emerges from decades of military and political turmoil, and the world seeks to
guarantee food for an ever growing population, Cambodia's natural resources,
primarily land, are up for sale. Key natural resources are sold off, or made
use of, for agribusiness, hydro-power plants, mining, logging, special economic
zones, factories and sky-scrapers. The people who are the heart and soul of Cambodia
experience this as economic and cultural destruction.

At
the end of 2009 the National Assembly passed the Expropriations Law, the Senate
approving it in just 60 minutes, making it legal for the government to sell off
inhabited land, forests and fisheries for "the public good". With the
Khmer Rouge a living memory the majority of Cambodians feel their government is
"on the right track" and are unwilling to rock the boat. Despite
legal protection, compensation to affected communities is an attempt to pacify
the victims rather than a sincere attempt to offset the cost to their
livelihoods.

Recently
BKK Partners, of whom former Treasurer Peter Costello is a managing director,
announced a $600 million investment in Cambodia promising jobs and
technical improvements to farming practices, as well as great profits to
investors. This is part of a larger picture. In the aftermath of the global
food crisis countries with booming populations and limited land space have been
seeking land to grow crops. Countries like Qatar,
Kuwait, Korea, China,
Vietnam and others seek to
purchase arable land in Cambodia.
The map below highlights the extent of the trend, but is innaccurate to
specifics given the regular practice of governmental non-disclosure regarding
details of many land deals.

In
practice, the Cambodian government awards land concessions to currently
occupied areas. These decisions are made by the Cambodian Development Council
which is headed by the Prime Minister Hun Sen. On the CDC's website potential
investors are assured when conflicts with local communities occur a specially
appointed grievance mechanism of the CDC, also headed by the Prime Minister,
will move to smooth over tensions with local inhabitants. As far as an investor
is concerned this is a great deal. For local communities how can they expect to
negotiate with the vaunted power of the Prime Minister?

As
always, the poor as well as ethnic and religious minority groups are most at
risk. Numerous communities have already been forcibly evicted, relocated, their
land and access to natural resources confiscated. People have died, suffered
beatings, torture and gone to prison. All under the watchful eye of
international organisations like the World Trade Organisation, World Bank,
Asian Development Bank, as well as country donors like Australia.

Transforming Conflict Nonviolently

At
the core of the problem is the disenfranchisement of local communities. They
lack real representation and voice in the places of political, economic and
legal power, all of which are geared to ensuring the powerful get what they
want. But as many countries have demonstrated over the years, the people also
wield power. Indeed, in Madagascar,
roughly half the arable land was to be given over to South Korea’s Daewoo Logistics in a
massive deal. The populous took to the streets, the government lost power and
the deal sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

There
are three basic ways to respond to conflict. Passivity ignores the problem
hoping it will go away. Counter Violence fights back inflicting damaging wounds
on the opponent so they are no longer a threat. The third way of responding,
nonviolence, says, "your needs and interests are valid, and so are mine. I
will not let you pursue your goals at the detriment of my fundamental
needs".

In
Cambodia
the poor have learned to keep quiet. There is a well known saying, "when
the elephants dance the ants die". Better to keep out of the way of
the elephants in their “dance”, for the wealthy and powerful are continuously
struggling. Alliances, revenge attacks, and power plays all factor in to Cambodia's
political life. So, for the most part nonviolence is off the scene - or so it
seems.

Starting
from the end of the Khmer Rouge domination of Cambodia, Maha Ghosananda
championed the "third way" of nonviolence to all Cambodians. A
Buddhist monk, he studied nonviolence in India and was on a 7-year meditation
retreat when the American bombings began, his entire family killed, and the
Khmer Rouge took control of Phnom Penh. He strongly desired to return to Cambodia but his retreat master encouraged him
to seek mindfulness first and return at a time when he could make a significant
impact on Cambodia.
That happened in 1978 while refugees streamed across the Cambodia-Thailand
border. He set up peace pagodas in refugee camps openly welcoming both refugees
and Khmer Rouge cadres without bias.

Maha
Ghosananda said, “It is a law of the
universe that retaliation, hatred, and revenge only continue the cycle and
never stop it. Reconciliation does not mean that we surrender rights and
conditions, but rather that we use love in our negotiations. Our wisdom and our
compassion must walk together. Having one without the other is like walking on
one foot; you will fall. Balancing the two, you will walk very well, step by
step.”

Maha
Ghosananda is best known for the Dhammayietras, or peace pilgrimages,
through war torn Cambodia.
Maha Ghosananda's approach is somewhat unique in the annals of nonviolence as
it comes across as unusually non-confrontational. However, reading the
histories of the Dhammayietras it's evident that Maha Ghosananda was
confrontational, “Don’t struggle with
people, with men. Struggle with the goals and conditions that make men fight
each other.”. His fight was with violence, not with people. At that time the
most overt and destructive form of violence was war and the spectre of reprisal
violence. He sought to bring Cambodians together, to put away their desire and
trust in revenge, and build a new country on forgiveness, seeing that all
Cambodians have a place in the new society. Without this inclusive view he
believed the Khmer Rouge would never lay down their weapons and the war would
rage on.

Now
that war is gone Cambodia
has what Dr Martin Luther King Jr. calls, a 'negative peace'. There are no guns
killing but there is little justice or freedom from oppression. A new Dhammayietra
is needed. A pilgrimage not just of feet, but of the hearts and minds of
the people of Cambodia, to stand up against the injustices of land-grabbing,
forced evictions, land expropriation, judicial collaboration, political
intimidation, destruction of forests, the filling in of vital coastal waters,
damming of crucial waterways and the exporting of all the benefits of
Cambodia's natural resources while benefiting only the elite.

Building on the Nonviolent Story

A
recent study by Maria J. Stephen and Erica Chenoweth revealed that nonviolent
resistance is far more successful at achieving it's aims than violent
resistance (53% versus 26%).[1]
There is no need for a violent movement in Cambodia. And the odds are against
one succeeding. Yet the potential is there. High inequality, a high number of
youth compared to aged population, low education, few job prospects,
expropriation of natural resources and little exposure to nonviolent options
all add to the likelihood of a violent response.

To
avert a violent upheaval, and go beyond passive denial, the engagement in
positive nonviolent social transformation is possible. It requires, amongst the
general population, a deep awareness of what is happening to the county.
Training in the history, theory and practice of nonviolence is needed amongst
key at-risk groups to foster a strategic and disciplined movement. Popularising
the stories of nonviolence in Cambodia
and the world will engage the imagination of people who are frustrated and
unsure what to do. Training in how social movements progress will foster a
long-term perspective that can be maintained in the face of short-term
struggles. Finally, a willingness to experience suffering rather than inflict
will actualise freedom from injustice. The risks must be clearly stated and
honestly discussed. No nonviolent movement is without risk. But the odds are
good.

Chris
Baker Evens has lived in Cambodia
for the past 6 years with his wife and two children. They recently moved to
Kampot province to support local community story projects. Chris also writes
and trains on nonviolence. His blog, The Nonviolent Story, is found at http://thenonviolentstory.blogspot.com/.